What is FREEBOOTING?
Freebooting is the act of downloading the video of another content creator and then reuploading it to your own page (FB, TW, Instagram, etc.) so the views (and potentially, the ad revenue) accrue to the freebooter instead of the content creator.
The videos above and below are not freebooted content. Why?
Because they are posted from the YouTube page and account of the creator themselves. Thus, the view count and ad revenue accrue to the content creators, not to myself, David Rainoshek here on Medium.com.
Destin at Smarter Every Day has an incredible post on his experience on the receiving end (the ripped-off end) of Freebooting, and why moving the people and ethos online beyond Freebooting is so crucial to evolving the internet we love, and will love in the future:
This is fascinating stuff, and you may have unwittingly, innocently been party to freebooting either by re-uploading someone’s content on your own page just to share it, or by sharing forward a freebooted video post on Facebook, for example…
… and Facebook is the current King of the Freebooterverse, to their own financial gain and the detriment of hardworking YouTubers who are getting ripped off (Fuck you, Mark Zuckerberg and Team…) Facebook could fix this issue with a three strikes and you’re out rule such as YouTube created years ago, but noooooooo.
As the generation of users and creators who are developing the ethos — the environment and culture — of the internet, we can put an end to Freebooting and those who practice it. Destin at Smarter Every Day has guidance that works:
That’s it. Thanks for reading this post.
Please share it! Your friends may not know about Freebooting, but would want to.
Let’s move beyond Freebooting to an ever-evolving and cooler internet that honors and rewards content creators for breaking out of the box and generating the shit that informs, uplifts, and inspires us forward.
David Rainoshek, MA is a regular contributor here on Medium. If you liked what you read, you may also like these Medium articles:
How Facebook is Altering Your Mind
Reading as a Revolutionary Act: 33 Reasons to Read a Book a Day
Steve Jobs: Developing Genius
HyperLearning: It’s Here
David Rainoshek also writes “The Book of the Day” here on Medium.
You can find all his professional work here:
David Rainoshek — Official Site
The HyperLearning Course
The Juice Feasting Program
Subscribe to my new YouTube channel here: https://youtube.com/davidrainoshek
